Whitepaper

Liberate MarketersRelease yourself from a life of forced

labour and get back to marketing

Ask any marketer why they pursued a career in marketing and you’ll be hard pressed to find one who cites managing systems, administra-tion or navigating workflows.

Marketers are, at least in part, creative types who thrive on devising new ways to engage with audiences, drive sales and build brand customer loyalty. During the transition from traditional marketing to the new realm of digital there has been an explosion of information, creating chaos and leaving marketing professionals juggling projects and tools, not knowing which one to focus on next.

Every brand manager knows that having an integrated marketing plan is paramount, because each brand must deliver the seamless personalised experience that customers have come to expect every time they interact with a brand on any platform. But with a growing set of software tools and processes consuming valuable resources, marketers are spending a disproportionate amount of time managing systems and workflows.

Real multi-channel marketing requires integration – marketing assets and customer data need to be available across all channels in real time so that campaigns can respond to individuals. Workflows need to be automated in order to remove bottlenecks and reduce the operati-onal demand on marketers. Reporting needs to be easy, so that spend can be adjusted, content can be optimised and loyalty can be built. But where to start?

In their 2012 report “ The Multichannel Maturity Mandate ”, Forrester found that 86% of marketing professionals agreed that successfully integrating multiple channels under a single integrated marketing strategy was crucial to their long-term success. Read on to see if com-panies have risen to this challenge and discover how to assess your current marketing operation, identify blockages and understand the hidden costs of disparate data, legacy systems and sticking-plaster solutions. Find out how integrating systems and data can drastically improve your ROI, learn to create efficiencies and deliver personali-sed, multi-channel campaigns.

Stop juggling and start marketing

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Today, marketers and agencies have countless opportunities to enga-ge audiences. The world has become increasingly connected, requi-ring that brands develop marketing campaigns which address multip-le channels and devices. Consumers are constantly plugged-in to their mobile technology. They expect to be able to interact with a brand wherever they go and for their interactions to be familiar and uncom-promised. With so much choice and media fragmentation, giving rise to more touchpoints than ever, customers have become desensitised, but have also developed great expectations.

Of course, the real opportunity lies in creating cross-channel digital ex-periences that reach these touchpoints. Integrated marketing is a way of thinking that requires a consistent, seamless, multi-dimensional

brand experience for the consumer. This means that each touchpoint, across all channels; print, online, broadcast, email etc. is presented in a cohesive style that reinforces the brand’s message and values.

Unsurprisingly however, campaigns run the risk of being overlooked and ignored if they are not relevant to consumers. One of the major benefits of integrated marketing is that brands can communicate their story across channels, whilst still appearing to have a conversation with just one person. This creates brand value beyond conventional marketing, and can deliver massively increased ROI. As consumers spend more time online, marketers seek to weave together multiple exposures to their brands. That is integrated marketing.

What is integrated marketing?

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Social MediaManagement Digital Asset

Management

EditorialManagement

Web and MobileContent

Management

MultichannelCampaign

Management

Collaboration

EnterpriseContent

Management

Master andProduct Data Management

MarketingResource

Management

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What are the benefits of integrated marketing?

The one-size-fits-all approach is no longer appropriate. Today, com-panies spend millions getting to know their customers and creating personalised experiences. In order to rebuild engagement, marketing has needed to become much more of a two-way conversation. Consu-mers’ 24-hour access to brands through online and social media and their expectation of personalised, always-on experiences required a rethink for brand managers.

As organisations reassess their communication strategies and look to implement the changes required to deliver integrated marketing, diffe-rent teams can find that they have been working in silos. A fragmented

workforce leads to fragmented messaging, which simply won’t wash with customers and prospects who expect seamless experiences. Mo-dern marketing leaders need to implement an integrated marketing approach - if different teams or departments have different objectives, the combined strategy and appropriate management systems work together to support larger goals and communicate with one voice.

For organisations that have changed the way they think about marke-ting, new opportunities have presented themselves.

Increase ROI High quality marketing messages and experiences which are available at the time and on the channel of consumers’ choosing will increase market share by their very nature, but also increase basket size, pro-vide better integration with sales and help to immerse customers in more content, which can be delivered in exactly the right context.

Reduce operational overheadIt is simply not possible to deliver high-quality personalisation at scale manually. Deploying technology will release marketers to analyse, design experiences, create compelling content - stop juggling and get back to marketing. Redeploying marketing budgets in the short term can deliver substantial ongoing overhead reductions.

Build trust & engagement Integrating messages and striving for consistency develops consumer trust, overcoming natural feelings of scepticism towards new brands. Designing automated workflows and customer journeys which ad-dress people as individuals underpinned by a single customer view, delivers deeper experiences for increased engagement.

Raise brand awareness Consumers see hundreds of marketing messages every day - those which are personal, timely and relevant have a much greater chance of resona-ting. If consumers learn that a brand delivers what they want, it’s messages will cut through the noise and it will be front-of-mind when consumers are looking to buy.

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Make sure you’re maximising your content – Content published on 2 or 3 channels has a huge increase in engagement.

Top Tips

Get team buy-in by creating an easy-to-follow marketing strategy and communicate its objectives.

Help them understand what the ultimate goal is.

Lay strong foundations. Put in placethe workflows and systems now and save

time and effort later.

Create a brand guidelines book withthe agreed use of house copy style,

logos, typefaces, and colours.

Share successes. Nothing is betterfor team morale than celebrating

a project that has gone well.

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Today, companies know that an integrated marketing plan is the ultimate goal - but it won’t happen overnight. Creating true, seamless integration takes time and effort and can involve a culture change for a company that is still using manual processes and has relied on sticking plaster solutions.

Integrated marketing requires a big-picture approach to goals, objec-tives and budget. It starts with planning: Are there bottlenecks in the business that are holding back processes and consuming resources? Undoubtedly. Are there hidden costs in your production workflows, from disparate data and legacy systems? Almost certainly. Unless you look at your marketing operation and it’s output, pick it apart and put it back together again, you can’t understand the challenges facing

What does effective integrated marketing look like?

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your business. Empowering your team to help with this is a good way to get started, as they deal with these processes every day and they’ll be more invested in the outcome.

When you’ve identified the challenges before you, looking to imple-ment an integrated marketing platform is essential to handle the heavy lifting. By unifying processes, assets and people it enables better engagement, increases creativity and delivers a better customer experience.

With manual and analog systems no longer able to keep up with the vast amounts of information being generated, an integrated marketing platform can manage, process and utilise information for previously unavailable insights and opportunities. From content, to templates, media and communication channels - as well as team workflows to make sure authorisations and tasks are kept streamlined - bottlenecks are avoided and deadlines are met.

It is the ultimate team management workflow software that ties in internal and external contacts so that everyone involved knows the status of projects and what needs to be done. Whether you employ an agency to complete some tasks or your internal team are working remotely, the integrated system gives stakeholders full visibility and control.

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Case study Vitra

Vitra is a Swiss company dedicated to sustainably improving the quality of homes, offices and public spaces through the power of design. Its products and concepts are developed at the company’s Swiss headquarters as part of an intensive design process, bringing engineering excellence together with the creative genius of leading international designers.

This approach fosters interior concepts, furniture and accessories that are both functional and inspiring, with a particular focus on the longevity of materials, construction and aesthetics.

Vitra pursues a multi-channel strategy with close integration of multi-channel campaigning, the online shop and local dealers. “How can

we equip knowledge workers to work more efficiently?” – has been the key question tackled by Vitra on a daily basis in relation to its products, customers and their working environments.

The days when companies competed on products alone are long gone. Nowadays, communication is what counts. This presents companies with numerous competitive challenges: products and offerings must be appealing and convincing, while customer communication and marketing should be granted equal importance across all types of media and channels. Based on this premise, Vitra defined the requirements for an efficient, dynamic and media-neutral communication and marketing system that supports all output channels and cleverly manages all data and information.

Integrate, automate & communicate

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The implementation of censhare for marketing campaigns allows Vitra to communicate consistently across all channels – from print publications, price lists and websites to social media in one orchestrated campaign. Via censhare, Vitra provides information in a consistent manner, across numerous touchpoints.

The implementation process involved the successive replacement of other systems, such as an image database, product information management, a translation memory system, a web content management system and various file servers.

Digital asset management with integrated content management for all channels forms the core of the new intelligent system. All workflows are integrated, from the creation of product information and the preparation of all content and communication through to publication in all channels. Automated processes facilitate localisation for languages, sales regions and individual target groups, while an integrated translation memory system permits lean, secure and efficient translation processes.

All content and product information is now managed exclusively by censhare. Real-time updating of stock data and prices is performed entirely through a single interface to Vitra’s ERP system. The solution provides outstanding performance, secure administration and theeffective storage of data.

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Case study Migros Migros is Switzerland’s largest retailer, with over 86,000 employees. The cooperative is supported by around 2 million members including supermarkets, specialised markets and product centres, as well as retailing and travel organisations. In all, 600 sales outlets operate in all four language regions of Switzerland.

As well as its commercial activities, Migros has an active corporate social responsibility strategy, working in culture, society, recreation and education. As well as various funding initiatives, the company makes a real contribution to the quality of life of its customers. In 2012, it was voted Switzerland’s most trusted brand. Migros is known for its multi-channel communications, which span print, online, it’s own Migipedia.ch community and social media, not to mention its bonus and loyalty programmes. But with such marketing maturity came complexity - Migros knew that it would have to make changes in order to continue delivering such diverse and immersive experiences.

By implementing an integrated marketing system, Migros were able to sweep aside many of the legacy systems, which had become cumbersome and unwieldy. This allowed Migros to deliver content across channels whilst preserving consistency and brand values. This “media-neutral” approach has ensured that Migros maximises return on marketing investment. Today, Migros staff, their advertising agencies, translators, photographers, copywriters and more are all working on one platform. The platform seamlessly integrates all individuals involved in the planning, creation and production of advertising materials.

In this way, the current status of a production is transparent and traceable. The greatest benefit is that marketers who once spent their time repurposing content, exporting data or building complicated weekly reports are free to create content and engage with customers.

Reduce complexity to deliver consistency

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Customers are no longer willing to accept anything other than high quality experiences. Delivering on this expectation can easily consume an entire marketing department. With so many balls in the air, it’s hard to find the time to step back and look at your marketing operation.

The reality is that you need to stop juggling and start marketing. Modern marketing is underpinned by modern technology. Integrated marketing technology allows marketers to get back to what they do best - marketing.

Conclusion

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About censhare

censhare is the integrated software solution that enables companies to manage their communication, integrate any type of information, optimize all measures and engage their customers via digital and analog touchpoints. censhare connects people with contents and processes in an innovative manner, enabling intelligent business communication.